


Out In The Endless Sands

by Jathis



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Comfort, Fibro Kevin, Help, Native American Kevin, Trans Carlos, friends - Freeform, silly things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-02-11 05:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2056365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some random stories centered on my versions of Carlos and Kevin out in the Endless Desert after the events of 49b</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Freedom and Truces

He couldn’t bring himself to hate Kevin, not really. Kevin was warped and devoted to this Smiling God and Strexcorp but he didn’t seem nearly as bad as people like Lauren Mallard or Daniel or those soldiers who had attacked his scientific comrades, beating them with electrified batons as painfully tight collars were forced around their necks before being dragged off to the Company Picnic. He found the man from Desert Bluffs pathetic more than anything else and found that he couldn’t find it within himself to just leave him to die alone in this desert.

It was because of this that Carlos walked slower, allowing the man to at least try and keep up with him. It was getting harder for him though; Carlos could see that the large metal…thing on Kevin’s legs was becoming jammed up from all of the sand. It was making it harder for the other to even limp after him and it was after Kevin had tripped and struggled to get up for the third time that day that Carlos turned around and walked up to him, ignoring the way the other flinched and held out a clawed hand in defense.

“Don’t…”

“Kevin, these need to come off.”

“NO!”

Carlos winced at how terrified Kevin sounded, shaking his head as he knelt in front of him, holding up his hands palms up to try and look harmless to the other. “Kevin, I’m not going to hurt you…”

“…I need these to walk,” Kevin whispered.

“Kevin, you can’t walk in these. I don’t even understand how you were  _ever_ able to walk in these. Scientifically speaking…”

“The Smiling God let Strexcorp cure me!” Kevin whimpered.

“Kevin, you can’t cure what you and Cecil have,” Carlos reminded him, keeping his voice low and soothing to keep the other under control. The last thing he needed was for Kevin to get spooked and lash out at him. Cecil had told him about their fight in that vortex and how surprisingly strong Kevin was.

“…I was cured…”

“You were tortured,” Carlos clarified. He let out a small sigh of relief as the other lowered his arms, fingers slowly shortening back down to normal digits. “I can help you walk but first these need to come off.”

Kevin bit his lip, looking down at his legs. Nervously he reached down and touched some of the pointed screws, the metal stained permanently with his blood. They hadn’t driven themselves into his flesh in what felt like forever since he was thrown through that door and it had started to make him nervous. It felt as if he had been abandoned by everyone, even his Smiling God.

“I…”

“Kevin, this needs to happen.” Carlos watched as Kevin chewed on his lower lip, wincing when he drew blood to the surface. He sighed and was about to get up, ready to leave the other to his misery and cruel braces when Kevin suddenly spoke again.

“…Okay.”

Carlos let out a sigh of relief and nodded, turning back to look down at him. “I’m going to go and get a rock to help me with those locks, okay? You just wait here for me to come back.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Carlos.”

“Yes…Carlos.”

He smiled a little and nodded, walking away to try and find something that would help him with this. He couldn’t help but feel incredibly lucky when he found a nicely sized rock and a strong piece of slender driftwood. He took his two prizes back to where Kevin sat, kneeling down beside him as the other stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back against the palms of his hands.

He looked over the warped and twisted excuse for leg braces and frowned to himself as he held the rock readily in one hand. “This…this is going to hurt,” he warned.

“That’s all right. Pain means you’re being corrected!” Kevin chirped.

Carlos tried not to react to how happy Kevin sounded when he said that, bringing the rock down sharply against one of the joints of the braces, focusing down at the ankles before working his way upwards. They were old and stained with Kevin’s blood and he gritted his teeth as he slammed the rock down in the proper places, holding onto one of the long bars to try and spare Kevin of most of the pain.

Kevin however was silent throughout the entire ordeal. He didn’t react as the metal was smashed and broken, carefully and painstakingly peeled off of his long abused legs. He only stared with his black blank eyes as Carlos worked, a soft mewl only leaving his lips when the other was finally finished.

“How do your legs feel now? Try to move them.”

He hesitated, looking unsure of himself. It had been so long with those things…too long. Slowly he bent one of his knees and he hissed in both pain and relief when he found that he could do it much better than he ever had with the braces on.

“Better?” Carlos asked.

“Ye-yes, si…”

“Carlos.”

“Carlos…” Kevin turned his head to look at the other, offering him a smile and this time Carlos could see that it was real and not overly large and fake like the others had been. “Thank you, Carlos.”

He smiled and got up, holding a hand out to Kevin for him to take. “Come on then, Kevin! We’ve got to make up for lost ground, hm?”

Kevin took his hand and hissed as he stood up on his own two feet, reaching out for the driftwood Carlos offered to him. He leaned on it heavily and it made him think about his old metal cane he used to own, the one he had smashed over a Strexcorp soldier’s head. He offered the scientist another shy smile, giggling as they started off again, leaving the twisted and rusted metal to be covered up in sand and forgotten.


	2. Questions In The Desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin has a question

The heat of the Endless Desert is unbearably hot when the sun is out. This heat can especially be felt when one is wearing a lab coat along with their regular clothes. Carlos grumbled to himself as he stripped off his lab coat during one especially hot trek, muttering darkly to himself as he tied the sleeves of it around his hips, still unwilling to get rid of it completely just yet.

He glanced over at Kevin and frowned to himself. The Desert Bluffs native was still dressed in his blood stained orange and brown tailored suit. The only thing he had done so far was to roll up the sleeves of the jacket and the shirt underneath. He was more focused on his legs’ new found freedom from the braces, leaning heavily on the strong piece of wood Carlos had managed to find for him.

“Aren’t you hot in that?” Carlos asked.

Kevin looked over at him innocently, shaking his head. “No? I feel fine! The sun is so nice today!” he chirped.

“It’s killing me,” Carlos muttered with a huff, shaking his head as he looked away.

“Do you need to take off your t-shirt with that cute puppy?” Kevin offered.

Carlos hesitated, frowning to himself as he tried to weigh the pros and cons of removing his t-shirt. He really didn’t need any more added conflicts after everything that had happened but with the way the heat was beating down on him without any chance of letting up…he supposed he could deal with the consequences however he needed to.

He took the t-shirt off in one swift motion, sighing to himself as he worked on fixing his shirt to become right side out again, muttering to himself as he worked on tucking it under the tied sleeves of his lab coat.

“Oh!” Kevin gasped, obsidian eyes immediately drawn to Carlos’ chest.

“We need to keep moving,” Carlos said, refusing to acknowledge the other’s noise of interest. Maybe if he just avoided talking about it…

“May I ask a question?”

Shit.

“Is it about my body?”

“…Yes.”

Carlos cracked his jaw slightly in annoyance, struggling to keep his annoyance down for the moment. “Is it about something between my legs?”

“No,” Kevin said.

Carlos cocked an eyebrow at that and finally turned around to face the other, placing his hands on his hips. “What’s your question?”

“How did you grow facial hair?” Kevin asked, pointing at the stubble on Carlos’ face.

Carlos could only stare at him for a moment, blinking rapidly as he processed the other’s innocently asked question. He had become so used to people always asking about his genitals that the question about his facial hair caught him completely by surprise. Kevin for his part just stood smiling at him, waiting patiently for an answer, his hands clasped behind his back.

“…Hormone therapy,” Carlos finally answered.

“Wow! That’s really neat!” Kevin chirped.

“Yeah, let’s keep moving.”

“Okay!”


	3. Hair Goals

Ever since they had come across the small pool of drinkable water, Carlos had noticed Kevin staring at his reflection in the calm surface. The resident of Desert Bluffs was down on his hands and knees, unmoving as he stared at his reflection. Carlos waited several minutes, his eyebrows rising a little when he saw how very little Kevin was actually blinking, let alone moving at all.

With a sigh, Carlos forced himself to focus on the more important things for now. He filled several of the empty water bottles he had been saving for such an occasion, closing them tightly before slipping them into several pockets in his lab coat. When he was finished he dipped his cupped hands into the water, drinking his fill with a sigh, splashing some into his face, blowing it away with his mouth and nostrils before shaking his head and looking over at Kevin again.

Kevin was still staring at his reflection. He had not even shifted a little from his earlier position. He just stayed on his hands and knees, looking into the water at himself.

“Kevin?” Carlos waited a little for some form of answer before sighing and getting up, walking over to stand beside him now. Bending down, he placed a hand on his shoulder and he gasped when he suddenly flinched and sat upright in a flash, black eyes wide as he looked at him as if for the first time. “Kevin? Are you okay?”

“My…my hair…”

Carlos blinked and looked at his hair. He had to admit that it looked like Kevin’s hair was starting to look a bit…ragged. It was no longer short and well kept. It was starting to grow long, starting to cover his ears in thick black straight locks. “Yes?” he asked, wondering if Kevin was upset by his appearance somehow.

Kevin looked down at his reflection again, running a hand through his hair. His body started to tremble and he let out a bark of laughter suddenly, his face breaking out into a wide grin. “Look at my hair, Carlos! Look at it!” he giggled, looking at the scientist with wide black eyes, tugging at his hair, making it stick out every which way.

“Uh..?”

“It’s getting  _long_! It’s getting long and…and  _they_  can’t make me cut it!”

Carlos frowned, not understanding what he was talking about when he suddenly remembered a conversation he had had with Cecil before everything had hit the fan. Apparently Kevin was banned from styling his hair anything besides short and very “white” in style.

Suddenly his excitement made sense.

“Do you think…I’ll be able to braid it again someday?” Kevin asked, looking at Carlos with a hopeful expression on his face.

He offered the Voice of Desert Bluffs a smile, nodding his head. “I don’t see why not.” He blinked in surprise when Kevin threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly around the neck. “Kevin…careful…”

Kevin pulled back with a giggle, picking up his makeshift cane before pushing himself up onto his feet, leaning on it for support. “Come on, Carlos! We should keep moving, right? We have to find that door to get back home!”

He laughed as he stood up, nodding his head as he dusted off his knees.


	4. Scientific Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos makes an important promise.

Kevin was fast asleep by the time they had settled down when the sky changed to night. The former resident of Desert Bluffs had been fearful whenever the sun started to set before and it had taken Carlos several days before he was able to convince the Voice not to shriek and try to run and hide under the biggest rock he could find, forcing Doug or one of the other Warriors to go out and bring him back. Now he could at least handle watching the sun set as long as Carlos was with him and promised to wake him up when it was time for the sun to rise up again.

Carlos was busy mapping out the stars for the night. The scientist hummed to himself, idly running a hand over his stubble as he wrote everything out in a notebook. Some of his muscles had started to revert back to their usual patterns…but he was at least glad that his stubble remained and continued to grow. He was a little worried about when his menstrual cycle would start up again but several members of the Masked Army had assured him that they had ways to help him deal with it so he wasn’t overly worried about ruined clothes.

He chewed on the end of his pen thoughtfully, frowning to himself. He watched as one of the stars moved around to a new location and he laughed and shook his head. Carlos leaned back and turned his head to check on how Kevin was faring when he blinked, stiffening up at the sight that greeted him.

There was someone kneeling at Kevin’s head. He had no idea where they had come from but he knew that he had never seen them before. Immediately he set his notebook down and he sprang to his feet, slipping a little on the sands before making his way over, trying not to tremble too much to startle them.

They appeared to be a woman, dressed in a long skirt and a matching blouse. They wore a labcoat over this and had a silken scarf tied around their throat. Their hair was long and reached down past their shoulders with silver hair at the temples.

“My name is Vanessa,” they suddenly said, turning their head to look over their shoulder. “My pronouns are she/her,” she added.

“I’m Carlos,” he said after a moment, stepping over to sit beside her. “He/him.”

“…You’ve been doing a good job taking care of him,” she said, running her fingers through Kevin’s hair.

“Who are you?”

She turned her head, offering Carlos a sad smile as she said, “Vanessa.”

“The dead woman he talks about sometimes?”

“Yes.”

“But…scientifically speaking that…”

“…doesn’t make any sense,” she finished, nodding her head in agreement. “I am very well aware of that!” she laughed. “Things don’t work the same way around here. Your stars have told you that well enough.”

Carlos considered her words, chewing on his bottom lip. “What was your course of study?”

“Geology. I liked to study rocks and formations in the Earth. You?”

“Astronomy.”

“Eyes always pointed at the sky.”

“Eyes always pointed at the ground,” she countered. She smiled sadly, watching as Kevin shifted in his sleep, nuzzling against the palm of her hand in tired need for more physical contact. “Don’t make him go back there, not without something to properly defend himself with. They’ll break him harder this time to keep him the way they want him.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt him,” Carlos promised.

Vanessa smiled, nodding her head a little before standing up, brushing off her skirt and fixing her scarf and labcoat. “I have to go now. There are rules out here. Rules that don’t exactly follow all of the scientific formulas we’ve learned about.”

“Are you going to come back?”

She shrugged at the question, glancing down at the sleeping Kevin one last time with a sad smile. “I cannot say for sure,” she confessed, “but you are here and you’ve promised to watch over him so I don’t feel so worried for him anymore. Thank you for that.”

When Kevin woke up in the morning, he found Carlos sitting beside him, back facing him. “Good morning! The sun is waking up!” he chirped, pushing himself up in delight.

“Yeah.”

“Were you up all night looking at weird dark stars again?”

“Mostly.”

“You’re weird,” Kevin huffed.

Carlos laughed, shaking his head at him. “As you say.”


End file.
